I own the E45A and its an incredible axe. There is really no need for me to ever buy another of this size. I was surprised when i saw these pictures above that showed “flaws” in the steel which indicated “poor quality”. I know my axe is of the highest quality but it is a few years old. I went down to home depot to see if maybe this is a recent problem with estwing tools. What i found made me laugh. Estwing tools come with a thick clear coat over the axe head to protect it before the tool is purchased. every one of the axes I looked at had little bits of dust or marks or wrinkles in the clear coat exactly like what are shown in the pictures above. If your thinking about getting one of these, the steel is flawless. It’s a excellent tool!

I bought the longer, 26″ handled version of this axe from Home Depot (not the 16″ shown here). This American made tool (made in USA or U.S.A.) was designed to last. This axe is lightweight but can easily cut through both wet and dry hard woods. The molded handle is surely the most comfortable I’ve ever felt on an axe. This very portable axe is what you are looking for if you want to fell trees, split wood or re-split firewood into kindling. However, I wouldn’t attempt to use this axe to smack a wedge through big logs. It is light enough to use one-handed for hammering pegs etc. I’m assuming that it’s by no coincidence that the longer version of this axe also has a rounded handle segment in the middle that you can “choke up” on to gain better control of the swing for hammering or for close cutting/hewing; it is light and controllable. Although none is shown in the picture, mine came with a leather sheath; all of the ones I’ve seen in stores do. It comes with a sharp factory edge and sharpens to a ridiculously sharp edge in a few passes from one of those V-shaped knife/tool sharpeners Accu Sharp 060 GardenSharp Tool Sharpener(Accusharp). Estwing did their homework when designing and manufacturing this axe and you won’t be disappointed with this choice. It is one of those rare examples of quality better than you would expect for the price.

Well, I am an axe collector, so I’ve seen many hundreds if not thousands of axes over the years. For a small camping axe, the E45A is a superior product. I have three of these. One for use, the others I bought to put in my collection. I don’t typically buy new axes for my collection, but this axe has earned a spot due to its durability as a field tool, and the fact that it’s made in the USA. I am not an Ameri-centic axe collector, but this fact doesn’t hurt. The steel is very good and goes through the handle – which is an excellent design. In addition to being virtually unbreakable, the handle’s surface texture is both durable and comfortable. It’s simply amongst the nicest tools one can currently buy new – that isn’t a wallet buster – for light to medium duty chopping. Easy to give this axe the highest recommendation as a light to medium duty chopping tool.